Clarke's vow on top-up fees

CONTROVERSIAL plans for student top-up fees of up to £3,000 will go ahead as planned. Education Secretary Charles Clarke said his job was to make education available to everyone and it was only right that graduates seeking highly-paid jobs should make a contribution.

CONTROVERSIAL government plans for student top-up fees of up to £3,000 will go ahead as planned, Education Secretary Charles Clarke insisted today.

He told Labour delegates in Bournemouth his job was to make education available to everyone and it was only right that graduates seeking highly-paid jobs should make a contribution.

He won vital backing from the Higher Education Policy Institute in a report which said the government's policy, despite claims of opponents, was generous to families, regardless of their income.

But the report also warned that even trebling tuition fees to £3,000 a year could still leave universities facing a £1.6bn funding gap by the end of the decade.

The report said abolishing up-front fees and allowing graduates to pay them back at very low interest rates once they were earning at least £15,000 a year, could cost the taxpayer £1.6bn in 2010 - cheaper than the Liberal Democrats' alternative plan.

In his first address to conference as Education Secretary, Mr Clarke also apologised for the funding crisis which hit schools earlier this year and led to fears of staff cuts.

Regret

It is estimated that during the crisis, secondary schools lost 3,500 teachers because of increased costs.

"I do regret funding problems in far too many schools this year. I'm determined those problems won't recur and have committed the government to a real, per pupil increase in funding," said Mr Clarke.

On the thorny issue of student fees there was to be no turning back, despite criticisms from MPs and Labour activists.

"We do believe it's reasonable and fair to ask graduates to pay something towards the cost of their education from which they gain the possibility of higher salaries," said Mr Clarke.

"It is fairer to ask a barrister to pay back, through the tax system, a percentage of costs of education through which he secured a job for life, than to ask a hospital cleaner to pay 100 per cent of the same barrister's education through the tax he pays from his income."

The message is unlikely to appease the critics but Mr Clarke, recalling Tony Blair's `education, education, education' pledge, was insisting today that there had to be changes in the education system.